Florida Chamber of Commerce backs Bondi in attorney general race, Benson nails down former GOP party bosses
by Dara Kam | July 29th, 2010The Florida Chamber of Commerce has endorsed Pam Bondi, a Tampa lawyer and frequent FoxNews contributor on legal issues, for attorney general.
It’s the first time the business group has backed an attorney general candidate, according to a press release issued by the Chamber, which represents 139,000 businesses throughout the state.
The endorsement should come as no surprise for one of the political neophyte’s opponents in the GOP primary. Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, is a trial lawyer, whose association has engaged in a Hatfield-McCoy’s battle with the Chamber for years.
But the powerful business group’s backing may have caught the third GOP candidate in the primary off guard. Holly Benson, who served as secretary of both the Department of Business and Professional Regulation and the Agency for Health Care Administration, is a pro-business, anti-tort reform conservative who regularly got high ratings from business groups during her tenure in the Florida House of Representatives.
Meanwhile, former Republican Party of Florida chairmen Tom Slade and Carole Jean Jordan endorsed Benson yesterday in the three-way GOP primary.
That gives Benson a 2-to-1 former-RPOF-party-boss-endorsement lead over Bondi, who’s backed by former chairman Al Cardenas, a Jeb Bush ally. So far, none have come out in support for Kottkamp.
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July 30th, 2010 at 3:22 am
Chambers can post their latest news & events and keep their members updated by creating their business communities on nuAlerts. Check out our Chambers on Social Media report at http://tinyurl.com/348z83m
August 1st, 2010 at 5:24 pm
Since the Florida Attorney General is responsible for a budget of nearly $200 million, and leads nearly 500 lawyers, it’s important the candidate have proven experience in leading state agencies. Holly Benson is the only candidate with the experience of leading a huge state agencies. She served as Secretary of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR); an agency responsible for licensing over 1,000,000 in Florida. Holly led the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) after demonstrating her capabilities at DBPR. THE AHCA has responsibility for the state’s $18 billion Medicaid program that serves over 2.7 million Floridians. It licenses over 40,000 health care facilities.
Having worked with Holly, I’m impressed with her abilities. Even more so, her honesty and down to earth communication skills are a welcome change from what we have come to expect from our elected officials.
Holly Benson has my vote for Florida Attorney General